Bridge on the Drina

As we read this great novel, a question comes to mind: when will this repetition of political conflicts that use religion as a pretext end? The events of this novel take place in the Serbian city of Višegrad, a mixed city inhabited by Christians and Muslims. Over centuries, authorities change and conflicts persist, in a story whose events span from 1571, when the bridge began to be built by order of Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokolović, who was taken from his parents as a child to be raised in Istanbul, then became a Turkish officer, and later a powerful vizier... The novel ends with the World War that led to the collapse of Turkish dominance and Austria's control over the city.
As for the bridge, which Andrić describes as having "unparalleled beauty," it is the true hero of the novel; all the events that occur in Višegrad are linked to it. Through it, the novel presents a beautiful picture of the lives of the city's people, with all their pains and conflicts, and also with their cooperation and attempts to spare their city the repercussions of those conflicts.